Friday, February 6, 2015

Everyone
knows George Herman Ruth. The "Bambino," the "Sultan
of Swat," the "Babe" is the most famous slugger of all-time. Many
baseball fans also know that Ruth was a pitcher for the Boston Red
Sox at the beginning of his career. Hardly an extra arm, he was one
of the best left-handed pitchers in the game before his batting
efforts led him to a full-time position in the field. So,let's consider
what direction Ruth's career might have taken if he had never put his
pitching glove away.

Suppose that...

the 6-foot-2-inch, 215-pound Ruth was just an
adequate hitter. In that scenario, he may very well have remained in
the Red Sox's rotation. If he would have ever been traded to another
team, it would have been to join their pitching staff and not to
assume a spot in their lineup.

Early
in his career, he pitched full-time for three seasons and for parts
of three other seasons. Including some other New York Yankees years,
where he started an occasional game, his overall record was 94-46.
He threw 1,221 1/3 innings, allowed 974 hits, 441 walks, struck out
488 batters and had a 2.28 ERA.

His
two best seasons were 1916, when he went 23-12 with a 1.75 ERA, and
1917, when he went 24-13 with a 2.01 ERA. He pitched over 300 innings
in both of those years.

Now,
people can talk about the "Dead Ball Era" all they want.
Few were capable of doing what he did on the mound. There were better
pitchers than Ruth. But, many men who threw in his era weren't nearly as good as he was.

Hypothetically speaking....Ruth's career numbers project to an average record of approximately 20-10
over a 154-game season.

Ruth
played from 1914 through 1935. So, over the course of 22 seasons
would he have won over 400 games? Maybe not. But, he seems likely to
have won between 300-350 games. Those numbers would have gotten
him into the Hall of Fame.

Would
Ruth have been traded to the Yankees if he was a pitcher? Would that franchise have become a
dynasty if he continued to dominate from the mound, rather than transform into a legendary home run hitter?
Great questions that also never can be answered and are far more
challenging to consider.

Ruth's
pitching numbers serve as further supporting evidence that he was
clearly one of, if not, the greatest ballplayers to have ever lived.

(I hold all copyrights to this article which originally appeared on Yahoo's platform in 2011. Photo courtesy of internetpopculture.com)